Magdalena Kozená ~ Handel Italian Cantatas / Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski

Only a few years since emerging as a notable singer, mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozená hasn't stopped enchanting her audience. It is, after all, a rare pleasure to experience this unique voice with its warm and elegant timbre. Some of its aspects are apparent in her preceding recital, an unusual--and unusually beautiful--program of Czech love songs. With this account of Handel's Italian Cantatas, Kozená confirms the immense scope of her gifts. Better yet, her voice is once more "affirmed": it seems fresher, conveying even more emotion. Marc Minkowski and his Musiciens du Louvre are hardly to be overlooked in this absolute success. They understand in their bones the kind of scarcely veiled energy that's fitting for the music of Handel. --Pierre Guillaume